貂蝉
Diāo Chán

Diaochan

貂 diāo marten

Phonosemantic compound. 豸 represents the meaning and 召 represents the sound.

Components

豸
豸 Meaning component
zhì (dhole), beast
召
召 Sound component
zhào summon

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangteːw
Unicodedeu

說文解字

鼠屬。大而黃黑，出胡丁零國。从豸召聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

蝉 chán cicada Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 虫 represents the meaning and 单 represents the sound. Simplified form of 蟬.

Components

虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect
单
单 Sound component
dān single

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

蟬 chán cicada Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 虫 represents the meaning and 單 represents the sound.

Components

虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect
單
單 Sound component
dān single

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdzyen[d]a[r]cicada
Zhengzhangdjan
Unicodezhiɛn

說文解字

以㫄鳴者。从虫單聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)